By Editor 

 
With commuters beginning to use the horse-shoe overpasses as they open to traffic one by one, the feedback coming in is far from favourable about this important part of the dual track railway project.

 

Social media posts are showing consistent criticisms of two aspects of the bridges; first the quality of the construction and secondly the design.

 

One common comment is that driving on the horse-shoe bridges reminds them of riding a horse. 

 

“Driving feels like riding a horse. It’s awesome.”

 

 “It’s not a horse-riding bridge. It’s called a horse-jumping bridge.”

 

“Nong Hin is the scariest, jumping like a horse.”

 

“It’s like riding a horse.”

 

The alleged inconsistency of construction standards, including the smoothness of the road surface has drawn considerable comment.

 

“The road is not smooth, at first, I thought it wasn’t finished.”

 

“It’s suspicious that the project is the same, but different contractors don’t make it to the same standard.”

 

“I’m not impressed with the bridge construction. Safety and construction standards should be taken into account and the contractor should take responsibility for the substandard construction.”

 

Finally the design of the bridges, with the need to make an entry and exit right hand turn to or from the long ramp is in question, along with negotiating the apex of the bridge, especially for motorbike riders or cyclists likely to be overtaken.

 

‘’I also want to know why they have to make horseshoes so close to a straight crossing?”

 

“Sections of raised track with a road underpass are fine, but these massive horseshoe bridges are crazy”

 

Of course, netcitizens are not generally railway or bridge engineers, just mere commuters, but their verdict seems unanimous, especially when it comes to safety.  One commentator even suggesting the railway be closed to protest!

 

Have you made a bridge crossing or two yet, what’s your review?

 

Source: https://royalcoastreview.com/2023/02/harsh-reviews-of-the-dual-track-rail-crossing-bridges-whats-your-opinion/

 

-- © Copyright Royal Coast Review 2023-02-21

 

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1 hour ago, webfact said:

‘’I also want to know why they have to make horseshoes so close to a straight crossing?”

In the top photo the straight crossing is blocked off.  I'm not sure why they couldn't have just made a straight bridge over the tracks.

2 minutes ago, rwill said:

In the top photo the straight crossing is blocked off.  I'm not sure why they couldn't have just made a straight bridge over the tracks.

I am guessing the total length of the straight bridge would have to be much longer if they wanted to make it as high as the shoe horse, otherwise the climb would be steep.

 

Horseshoe Bridges ?  It's all to do with right of way, and not wishing to expropriate extra land !

As for Construction Specification, well that's up to the SRT construction Supervisor

OH YEAH!! I can see this semi-circle becoming a Thai drifters wet-dream with nightly Lao Khao sessions and drifters smokin' the heck outa this site ! ????????????????

Thailand is already the hub of U-turns.......

There was never a need for any of the stupid dangerous eyesores called over passes. Travel a little farther and  a road crossing as before. Total corruption and the biggest boondoggle in Thailand history. Tear down that fracking eyesore.

3 hours ago, webfact said:

The alleged inconsistency of construction standards, including the smoothness of the road surface has drawn considerable comment.

 

“The road is not smooth, at first, I thought it wasn’t finished.”

It's a design feature to keep Thais awake at the wheel.

2 hours ago, rwill said:

In the top photo the straight crossing is blocked off.  I'm not sure why they couldn't have just made a straight bridge over the tracks.

Because a straight bridge still requires a ramp to lead onto and off the bridge.

In the horseshoe way it stays in close proximity to the railway track

You find them in Prachuap and Huay Yang and do indeed look awful. Concrete montrosities.

Seem a very sensible idea to me and certainly a necessity for the HS rails

Are these crossings ugly   Yes

Will they be accepted by motorists  Who Knows

If Thai's can't manage to cross a Single level crossing, without death and mayhem

What are their chances of survival with Double tracks

Why not the reverse.

A train bridge over the highway. If such bridges can cross deep valleys (ie., the Chenab Bridge in India), surely it's doable crossing roadways at ground level. But something like that takes innovation and imagination. Not Thailand's strongest suit.

Going by the Photos these bridges seem unnecessarily high for normal trains even with containers on.

To buy out the properties  next to the tracks to build a straight overpass rail crossing would have cost way

too much for the instant valuable properties. You do know that this is Thailand we are talking about right?

using the U turn design was a cost savings by using right of way land besides the railway tracks.

 

3 hours ago, brianthainess said:

Going by the Photos these bridges seem unnecessarily high for normal trains even with containers on.

As with everything else here, they like to overstack things, so better be safe ????

 

1 hour ago, kotsak said:

As with everything else here, they like to overstack things, so better be safe ????

 

The guy on top is to lift power cables over the load, hence the safety flip flops 

Would seem to be more sensible to put the train on a bridge, no need for extra land, or to reroute the roads, and helps prevent animals and humans getting on the tracks.

 

Worked for 150 years in the UK!

9 hours ago, Mitkof Island said:

There was never a need for any of the stupid dangerous eyesores called over passes. Travel a little farther and  a road crossing as before. Total corruption and the biggest boondoggle in Thailand history. Tear down that fracking eyesore.

So an overcross across the rail lines are not needed in places where a town is cut in half by the ral lines and the only way to cross is either over the actual rails where safety is an issue. Also there are very few lights at road crossings and is why there are u-turns where accidents occur daily. What Thailand needs is more traffic lights at these cross intersections and U-Turn locations ergo why the horseshoe bridges over the tracks....Safety from being hit by the soon to come high speed trains.

Actually, in Udon currently traffic lights are the new 'must have' road improvement. If you know Udon, the Muang thong fruit and vegetable market had an incredibly dangerous U-turn from one direction - now has working traffic lights since last week. Also seen a couple of other U-turns get traffic lights, but surprise surprise, on these lesser U-turns have already experienced red light runners.

I rode across one of these yesterday on a motorcycle at Patio (the nearest station to Chumphon airport).  It's like a rollercoaster.  Unpleasant in the dry and most likely hazardous in the wet.  At the moment the road surface is bare concrete.

 

They are also replacing the rather quaint old station with a huge concrete box station.  A complete waste of money given that on a good day probably ten passengers embark/disembark at this station.